WIP #016: VanillaTV – SNSD Companion CUBE
VanillaTV has many stars. The Team Fortress 2 shoutcasting site seems to collect tallent in much the same way Valve Software do. Not only has CUBE been able to find his own place but he’s rapidly reshaping their YouTube to page.
CUBE was with the original TFTV crew but initially decided not to come over to VanillaTF2 when VanillaTV was being formed. Since then he’s joined (arguably) the strongest Highlander team in Europe, SNSD. The team have won everything they’ve entered but in his opinion the competition is catching up.
Under his guidance their YouTube channel has changed from a repository of previous live shows into being a collection of brand new crafted content specifically for drawing in new subscribers; informing and teaching the public the finer points of competitive game-play.
The three new video sets are:
- Insights – digging into an individual protagonist’s experience of a TF2 match
- Analysis – an expert breaks down retrospectively some of the plays in a match
- Frag movie review – frag movie makers critiquing the best frag movies the community has to offer
Intro/outro created for WIP by Cryogenetic.
VanillaTV has many stars. The Team Fortress 2 shoutcasting site seems to collect tallent in much the same way Valve Software do. Not only has CUBE been able to find his own place but he’s rapidly reshaping their YouTube to page. CUBE was with the original TFTV crew but initially decided not to come over [...]
Mnemosynaut: An interview with
You may know that Valve recently added in a new item to Team Fortress 2. The Nine-Pipe Problem. What you may not know is the person behind it: Mnemosynaut. No I can’t pronounce his name either. But that doesn’t stop him from being a big part of the model making community. He currently has 2 in game items, as well as having a hand in fake updates “Night of the living dead” and “The Medieval Update”. We took the opportunity to chat with him about his work.
Hi Mnemosynaut. This week you had an item of yours added into Team fortress. The Nine-pipe problem. Many people think that this is your first item thats in the game. But its not is it?
Nope! I also made an Engineer hat called the Ol’ Geezer. Sadly, it’s been broken in more ways than one since the day it was released last May, and despite a bajillion emails to Valve, it looks like it won’t be fixed anytime soon. Now I’m stuck in a situation where I have to try and get a new self-made Engineer hat just to stop people from telling me how much I suck for making a broken, ugly hat. Here’s the workshop link to the fix in case anyone reading this happens to own the hat and would like to one day see it be not terrible:
Apart from that, I also contributed the six team-colored paints that were added in the Uber Update. I was never officially acknowledged for those, of course, but I still brag about them in interviews nonetheless.
As you should. How does it feel having some of your work actually in the game for everybody to see?
It has its pros and cons. The upside is that I get a lot of compliments and support from players in-game. The downside is that I have apparently turned into a magnet for Russian and Brazilian children on Steam. In fact, while typing this sentence, I just received a friend request from yet another Russian who probably communicates through Babelfish and will inevitably ask for free items, only to turn on me when I decline and proceed to spam my workshop pages with incomprehensible profanity.
Even though I only made it a few weeks ago (it’s the fastest item to ever be implemented directly from the workshop, by the way), I don’t really remember. I think I was looking on the Medic’s wiki page for inspiration and noticed the Private Eye. Then I said “okay, pipe” and it was done. The dark lenses were a complete afterthought and I only added them when I realized how bare and uninteresting a pipe is by itself. When you think about it, all of the other pipe items in-game are coupled with another accessory (the Dr. Grordborts beard, the Sniper’s sweater vest, etc).
You may have designed it with the private eye in mind, but did you ever thing valve would combine them and make “Eliminating The Impossible”.
In the workshop submission, I included a small promotional image containing a Sherlock Holmesian-style silhouette of the Medic wearing both the pipe and Private Eye. That, along with the Holmes reference in the original name, should make it obvious that I was looking at the Private Eye from the start. I definitely did not expect Valve to combine them into a set, seeing as how the hat was made by someone else. This is, in fact, the first time two people have unwittingly collaborated on an item set. It was a pleasant surprise.
You mentioned the Holmes reference in the name. It was originally called “The Baskerville Case”. How do you feel about valve changing the name to the “Nine-Pipe Problem”?
Lately, for one reason or another, Valve has been coming up with original names for items they implement into the game rather than using the names that the creators submit. A few people have guessed that it’s because Valve doesn’t want to seem like they’re just copy/pasting the item without having any creative input, which is perfectly fine. Some of the changes are for the worse (see: Itsy Bitsy Spyer) and some are for the better (see: Snapped Pupil aka the best-named item in TF2). In the case of the pipe, I’d say that I like the new name pretty much equally to the original. I strongly approve of the description they gave it, however.
Am I right in thinking that you were a big part in the making of the night of the living Update pack?
I made the Dullahan (ghost sword for the Demoman) and the Medium Rare (stake for the Spy). Actually, I was the Project Manager and a primary contributor to the production of the Night of the Living Update. I don’t want to appear as if I’m taking all of the credit for that, especially since Smashman went through the trouble of making this super-sophisticated credits page
A huge amount of effort was put into the Night of the living Update and medieval packs. How do you think it went?
The Medieval Update was a disaster. It was a horrible experience, through and through. The biggest mistake we made was in not asking enough people to help out, so as time went on and we began to understand the scope of the project, the workload became far too much for three people to handle. In the end, the Medieval Update acted mostly as a proof of concept and so we had a lot more people interested in contributing when we started on the Night of the Living Update.
Are you planning on doing any more packs? Any chance of a sneak peak?
We have at least two planned for 2012 but we haven’t really gotten anything off the ground yet. One idea that’s been tossed around for a good while now is something called the “Power Struggle Update”, which would feature items based on the various forms of energy (electric, nuclear, solar, etc). If that happens, it will probably be in the Summer. I’d also really like to do a followup to Night of the Living Update for this year’s Halloween. I think there’s a lot of untapped potential for creativity there and we could feasibly do one every year for as long as people are still interested in TF2.
You obviously put a lot of time into Team Fortress, but how much do you actually get to play the game?
I still play nearly every day. Single-player games come and go but no other multi-player game has captivated me like TF2 has for the past 3+ years that I’ve been playing. I picked up 3D modeling precisely because I wanted to contribute to my favorite game, and now that it’s beginning to really pay off, I don’t think I’ll be leaving anytime soon. As long as Valve is still supporting TF2 and operating the workshop, you can expect me to be a part of it.
Clearly you are good at what you do. Have you thought of taking this further and possibly making a career out of it?
My plan right now is to work on improving my modeling and texturing skills so that I can eventually get to the point where I’m able to make a career out of it. You might think that having two items being acknowledged by Valve would imply that I’m good but they are both very simple models that any amateur could make without a whole lot of experience. I hope to start taking some 3D Design classes in the Fall so I’ll have to wait and see where that takes me.
Thank you very much for this quick chat. How can people see more of your work?
Subscribe to my workshop! I’ve been really active lately and I try to produce at least 1-2 items every week.
You may know that Valve recently added in a new item to Team Fortress 2. The Nine-Pipe Problem. What you may not know is the person behind it: Mnemosynaut. No I can’t pronounce his name either. But that doesn’t stop him from being a big part of the model making community. He currently has 2 in game items, as well as having a hand in fake updates “Night of the [...]
WIP #015: GangGarrison2 – Psycho
Some projects WIP follows measure their progress on a daily basis, others weekly. Gang Garrison 2 feels rushed if they push out more than two major updates a year.
That said I know how they feel. This interview was recorded in December of 2011 and one thing or another has kept me from releasing it till now. The major 2.4 update happened for gg2 in October. The release combined a new play mode with greatly enhanced mod intergration.
Dual King of the Hill, requiring a team to hold their own point while taking the other team’s before the timer starts to go down, is an expansion on the standard KOTH mode associated with Team Fortress 2 the game’s spiritual forefather.
Possibly the most important part of this big update comes in the form of the mod update. Lead gg2 developer, Psychopath takes us through the benefits of the new open format for map makers and modders.
Intro/outro created for WIP by Cryogenetic.
Some projects WIP follows measure their progress on a daily basis, others weekly. Gang Garrison 2 feels rushed if they push out more than two major updates a year. That said I know how they feel. This interview was recorded in December of 2011 and one thing or another has kept me from releasing it [...]
KritzKast interviews MaxOfS2D
The best way to describe MaxOfS2D is a prolific animator. He has taken Earthbound, a cherished Japanese SuperNES role playing game and remoulded it. He uses characters we recognise from Team Fortress 2, a game he loves now, to breath life back into this ’94 title.
In the space of a just over a year MaxOfS2D’s YouTube site has seen well over 50 animations. He seemingly posts everything that comes into his mind; ranging from concept tests, to “how-to use 3ds Max” (his weapon of choice), to random moments captured in GMod, all the way through to a dancing lady succubus pyro.
We asked you at the beginning of 2012 to come up with questions for Max and you certainly obliged us. We had more than 160 entrants, most of which were polite enough to speak aloud. We took 20 of the best (one was edited out) and put them to Max in this interview. Our thanks to everyone who entered, the 20 finalists bagging themselves a KritzKast Lo-Fi Longwave hat.
Standard Podcast: The best way to describe MaxOfS2D is a prolific animator. He has taken Earthbound, a cherished Japanese SuperNES role playing game and remoulded it. He uses characters we recognise from Team Fortress 2, a game he loves now, to breath life back into this ’94 title.
Standard Podcast:
Australian Kritzmas
Its that time of year again. Where the kritzmas spirit takes over. Although we won’t have a live episode on this day, we do have a gift for all of you. We’ve cracked open the outtake safe, inserted TF2 into a Christmas carol and decimated some Christmas songs. If this doesn’t make you think of Christmas, them nothing will. Apart from you know….all those Christmas adverts.
Schedule
1 – Outtakes – Mary had a little Lamb
2 – Skit – That Scrooge is a spy
3 – Outtakes – Chronos goes crazy
4 – Outtakes – Boobies getting the girls off
5 – Music – Spy-cicle
6 – Outtakes – how to buy a plushie
7 – Fans – Agros shopping list (Albion)
8 – Skit – Ghost of Christmas past
9 – Saxton hate singing
10 – Music – Sharp dressed spy
11 – Outtakes – How to say Jimbomcb
12 – Outtakes – How not to do a segway
13 – Fan – The night before foundry (Agros dog)
14 – Outtakes – How many potatoes to a dollar?
15 – Music – Chronos’s challenge
16 – Outtakes – Fail@kritzkast.com
17 – Skit – The ghost of Christmas future
18 – Saxton – Wonderful time of the year
19 – Outtakes – Agros diet
20 – Saxton – Christmas Tree
21 – Australian Christmas (fail version)
Standard Podcast:
WIP #014: VanillaTV – The Unknown Unicorn Hat
In the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas every day is crammed full of everything happening all at the same time. VanillaTV have a habit of making every day feel like that. When WIP last talked to them they were finishing up i43 so we start this show from there.
Comedian opens himself up on reddit to an AMA (ask me anything) though it seems unnecessary; he’s so open and truly excited by everything he’s doing he could easily be living an AMA everyday. In fact when South Africa’s own TF2 community interviewed him they have to pair him off with Salamancer to get any exclusive content.
That’s the thing with streaming live content, it’s addictive. As Comedian puts it, you’ve got to enjoy the spotlight at least a little. Little wonder then that VanillaTV is looking to other forms of media than the live shoutcasting, namely podcasting. With no current competition in the European market this can only be a smart move for them. Another smart move was Byte patching tings up with eSports hero, ThePledge. Now those two are back on friendly terms vtv has an excellent new caster on their roster and everyone is happy.
One of the more interesting moves for vtv was away from their video streaming partners, TwitchTV. Comedian discusses the thoughts behind the jump to own3d.tv and the benfits it provides in combinations for an increased presence on YouTube.
I personally feel in some way responsible for Comedian meeting Ruskeydoo, the 3D artist behind so many TF2 items (including the KritzKast Lo-Fi Longwave). With that encounter a sketch on a napkin has turned into the living, breathing model of a unicorn strapped to spy’s head. On its mention Comedian almost breaks down with pleasure, I can see why. The hat is ultra dopey looking but caries the charm of random excitement of the whole VanillaTF2 team. While no promises have been made that it will make it into the game yet, it stands a reasonable chance even on its own merits.
Not content with hats, WIP has a second exclusive from this chat. VanillaTV are organizing their very own two-day TF2 cup. Sometime in the next couple of months we’ll see two tiers of players battling it out to win mousemats designed by Torden. I’ve not seen them yet but I have a suspicion unicorns may be involved
Intro/outro sampled from Daddy_Scrabble's "Monkeys have arrived". Used under CC Licen
WIP #013: keekerdc writes again
The experiment Chris started back in the summer of 2011 is over. Lesson learnt; people need stuff to look at. I suppose that’s true of all things, though I’m not expecting you to be staring blankly at this post for the next half hour while you listen to WIP #013.
Keekerdc is in a different place to where he was when we recorded WIP #003, both figuratively and physically. He’s relocated to Seattle on the West Coast. He’s also taking a different approach to reporting on the esport scene. Gone are the heady days of talking his way though a game. He’s moved on to writing for ESFI World and is toying with the idea of doing much more for them in the near future.
ESFI wants Chris to build his own show for the channel. Something that brings together all the interesting stories from every corner of esports. So once again we catch him while he’s on the brink of something new and possibly this time something old. Not entirely giving up on shoutcasting, Chris is working on some code to bring more interesting and polished visuals to casts.
Intro/outro sampled from Daddy_Scrabble's "Monkeys have arrived". Used under CC License
WIP #012: Chemical Alia – Model Engineering
Shaylyn Hamm met fame within the Team Fortress 2 community when her work, under her monika Chemical Alia, was chosen to be part of the Polycount Pack. Like many of the other artists featured this was not the last time we were to see her work. She has created Heavy, Medic and recently Spy in female forms and now looks to be doing the same for the Engineer.
Shaylyn engages in heavy research rather than making thousands of sketches. She is currently at the point of needing to create a base mesh. For this she wishes to move away from the toolset she knows from her work as an environment artist for Gearbox Software and towards ZBrush. This means learning a completely new and different interface. A daunting task we wish her the best of luck with.
Intro/outro sampled from Daddy_Scrabble's "Monkeys have arrived". Used under CC License
KritzKast interviews NerfNow
I remember when we first talked about NerfNow. It was back in 2008, a series of 18 pages telling the story of a kidnapped engineer and her heroic rescue. There were very few words in the images. Yet the art was enough to carry the messages of shared struggle, a team banding together, individual battles and unrequited love.
Since those heady days, creator Josue Pereira, has diversified his content into many different games and genres. He now frequently appears, as a tentacle monster, in his own drawings choosing to talk directly with his Nerfers. His core remains true to TF2 so we thought it was about time we gave this purple Brazilian tentacle his own interview.
This time we decided to ask our audience for questions to ask Jo. We were expecting a few hundred e-mails. Instead we received over one thousand. Just for having your question read out you’d get a KritzKast Lo-Fi Longwave hat (assuming you don’t already have one) but for one incredibly lucky winner the prize was to have their question made into a NerfNow comic strip.
Congratulations go to I-ninja. Click on the draft picture above to see Jo’s final render of his question.
Together with I-ninja these 29 other question writers all have a Vintage Longwave heading their way:
Draconius, Brian, Loli Desu, Scorpion42, Eduardo, Hyperviper, The HellJack, Adria_Penguin, Joey Boulé, Michael Duren, Noel, How Xian Yi, Henson Duong, Joreal, Gregarious, Dominic, Clarke, Toby Jones, James, Mystical RK, Robo, Rado, Mike Meeker, Dominion, Insinic, Grimno, quickhakker, Acey, Kolovsky
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions and special thanks to Jo for both allowing us to talk to him and for providing all this great artwork for our site. So long as there is Team Fortress 2 there will be KritzKast.
KritzKast interviews NerfNow:
WIP #011: EOReality – an American in Europe
There are few games server provider companies that can claim to have risen so high in such a short time. Started from a single system in May 2009, End of Reality LLC has become a leader in the North America market. Bucking conventions, EOR has chosen the path of renting servers, relying on high efficiency and stability of young intel platforms to provide the ever elusive 100% up time. With equal focus in the competitive environment as the communities Robby Hicks combines the latest hardware with the latest software and bundles it all together with a knowledge